The Case of the Heavily-Insured Businessman
As a forensic anthropologist, you are called in to identify some remains by an insurance
company. A 34-year-old Caucasian businessman, Mr. X, was insured with their company; he had
a life insurance policy worth $7 million dollars. The athletic, slim and wealthy Mr. X had traveled
to South America on business. His rental car had been seen out in a remote location off the
highway, having been involved in a serious accident. The car had crashed and then burned.
There was no sign of Mr. X, only a few fragments of incinerated bones in the vehicle. A man’s
watch (personally inscribed with Mr. X’s name from his wife) and a medical alert bracelet
(indicating an allergy to penicillin) were both found in the vehicle, as well.
The insurance company has asked you to investigate this case and see if you can find any
remains overlooked by the local authorities, and to further examine the bone fragments already
discovered.
The evidence that you find:
completely burned vehicle – due to intense heat, the glass was gone, the paint was
blistered, and the roof was melted
Small gray curved bone (3-4 inches square) found at the bottom of a heap of burned
debris inside the front seat of the automobile;
the outer surface of the bone was
relatively undamaged; the inner, concave surface was burned away. This turns out to be
a fragment from the top of a cranium.
calcined fragments of bone and 4 teeth – molars and incisors (recovered by forensic
scene experts following accident).
Your expert examination of the evidence reveals:
cranial sutures almost completely ossified
bone fragments show evidence of being from stout bones with highly developed muscle
attachment points and extensive signs of arthritis
no fillings or dental work in the recovered teeth
molars extremely worn
Shovel-shaped incisors
Other information:
The businessman, Mr. X, had purchased a bicycle earlier during his trip which he had kept in the
vehicle. No bicycle (or charred/burned remains of a bicycle) was recovered in the vehicle.
You will prepare a report summarizing and evaluating the evidence in the case study above.
Part 1: Inventory:
Create a table that describes the pieces of evidence that you have
been provided. Create an inventory of all bones, as well as other relevant evidence.
What information can be determined from each item?
